While April Smith of AHA MEDIA was interviewing Clyde Wright and Holly Boyd of AHA MEDIA for having Camera #1 of Hope In Shadows 2012 event, the cameraman for Global TV captured a happy “AHA” moment for Global TV BC news video.

Join us for Health, Harm Reduction and the Law

written by darcie| Thu, 05/05/2011 – 10:41

Next week, the Supreme Court of Canada will hear the Federal Government’s final appeal of the decision to allow the Insite Supervised injection facility to continue to provide lifesaving medical services and support to people who use injection drugs. We are inviting everyone who is interested in learning more about the struggle to open Canada’s first supervised injection site, the ongoing legal battle to keep it open, and the potential impact of a final ruling in this case to join us May 17th for Health, Harm Reduction and the Law: The InSite Case and the Future of Canadian Drug Policy.

Pivot board member and author of Vancouver’s groundbreaking Four Pillars Drug Strategy, Donald MacPherson will moderate an evening of discussion with legal professionals, medical experts, community activists and safe injection site users. The evening will focus on demystifying the case, celebrating the successes and challenges of the movement for evidence-based drug policy, and turning our attention to the future of drug policy in this country.

We’ll see footage straight from the courtroom in Ottawa. We will hear from the Portland Hotel Society, which operates Insite, and their lawyer, Monique Pongracic-Speier. Dr. Thomas Kerr of the Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and Maxine Davis, Executive Director of the Dr. Peters Aids Foundation will talk about the potential health implications of the decision in this case. Plaintiff Dean Wilson will reflect on his journey through the court process as a person who has used Insite. Downtown Eastside activist Bud Osborn will share reflections on the grassroots movement for a supervised injection facility. Dave Murray will talk about the unique perspective and legal arguments that the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users has brought to this case.

We’re looking forward to a lively evening of discussion, debate and reflection on the implications of this case for people who use drugs in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and beyond.

” We all know this blog belongs to the Mayor of London (although detached it is still his in spirit), and before that was based out of the cosmopolitan megalopolis of Henley, but for a moment I’d like to divert your attention to my own town, indeed my own neighborhood. I’d like to introduce you to Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

@Raincoaster writes ” With an average life expectancy in the mid-forties (thanks to disease, addiction, and the interlocking social and physical problems arising from substandard- or no housing), the DTES (Downtown Eastside) has been an archetypal skid row since the days in the last century when lumber was, in fact, skidded in the mud down the street on its way to the sawmill because wagons were for the rich folk.

Now, after more than a century of struggling with the issue, I’m proud to say that Vancouver has eliminated homelessness.

We anticipate increased life expectancy (as much as thirty years for DTES residents), a significant drop in crime (particularly violent crime), and an estimated $5000 per person “housing dividend,” reflecting the difference in social service expenditures between the housed and the homeless.

If a Canadian may toot her city’s own horn, this is truly an amazing accomplishment and Mayor Gregor (Robertson), Premier Gordon Campbell, City Hall, social service agencies, advocacy groups and officials at all levels should be very, very proud. I salute them. Who can even imagine how it must feel to know, unequivocally, that you’ve changed the world for the better.

Here is the official Homelessness is Over press release, via the Pivot Legal Society, a great organization whose mandate is to ensure that the laws of the nation apply equally to all, and who are always on top of positive (and negative) developments in housing for the homeless in Vancouver:

Vancouver’s housing crisis is finally over. Today Ray Solda, Vancouver’s last homeless person, moved into his room in the Kansas Hotel, a new social housing building funded by the provincial government. Government officials and Canadians everywhere today are celebrating the end of homelessness in Vancouver, a city that has struggled with a homelessness crisis for years.

Today’s announcement is the result of a number of key investments made by the provincial government to build social and supportive housing as part of their visionary comprehensive housing strategy. Despite the up-front costs, government and experts alike are confident that ending homelessness in Vancouver will actually save money over the long term.

“The years of spiralling rates of homelessness, derelict hotels, over-crowded shelters and laws punishing those without a safe place to live are going to be remembered as a dark page in this province’s history” says Laura Track, Pivot’s housing campaigner. “But the way this government changed course and resolved the crisis is a testament to what is possible when governments show real leadership and determination to make positive social change.”

Already, Vancouver is being held up as model for the rest of the country. Governments around the world are looking to the province for guidance in addressing homelessness in their jurisdictions. When asked what role she felt advocacy work had in ending homelessness, Track commented: “This accomplishment is the result of people coming together and saying they would not settle for anything less than an end to homelessness. It took everyday people saying yes, I will welcome social housing into my neighbourhood and taxpayers recognizing that it makes financial sense to tackle homelessness. Finally, it took governments hearing the call and making the decision to act.”

Once again: simply amazing. This is an incredible example to the rest of the world.